Settled For
by PermeliaSong
Summary: Fleur finds some old things of Bill's, including some letters written to him by one of her sister-in-laws.


Disclaimer: _I do not own the Harry Potter fandom or the characters, places, etc, J.K Rowling does. I do not make any money of this writing._

Summary: _Fleur finds some old things of Bills, including some letters written to him by one of her sister-in-laws._ For **EvylinDevilin's **_Letter Challenge_

_Thanks to __**EveryShiningStar**__ for betaing._

Settled For

The Shell Cottage was quiet, no sounds were heard; not even Fleur's footsteps made any sounds as she walked down the hallway. After hours of cleaning, which she never did at all—at least by hand anyways. She was bone tired, and the only room that was left to clean was Bill's study, a room in which the children and even herself were not allowed in unless invited. But since Bill was away for the day, she'd figured that she'd better do it, since they both knew that he wouldn't. She turned the knob, the cold metal against her soft skin made her shiver. She opened the door and stepped into the dark room. She felt for the light and switched it on, revealing a medium sized room with a brown leather couch, a large wooden desk, a bookshelf, and a cabinet. Fleur scowled at the mess, as she took out her wand and waved it. The books stood up and shelved themselves. The papers that were scattered on the floor came alive and began to stack themselves on top of each other, then placed themselves onto the desk. She waved her wand again and the duster flew out of the bucket she was holding and began dusting. As it did its duty, it accidently bumped into a book that was on its way to reshelf itself. The book fell open onto the floor. Fleur sighed and went over to pick it up. Sticking up out of the open page was a photo of her sister-in-law, Angelina. Fleur removed the picture from the book and scanned the photo of the dark-skinned girl who was dressed in jeans and a blouse and was smiling and waving, she then blew a kiss. Fleur furrowed her brows her heart started beating rapidly.

She went behind the desk and opened the drawers and rummaged around in the shelves. She didn't know why but she had a thought in her head and she couldn't get it out. She found nothing in the top drawers, but when she came to the bottom one that was obviously locked; she knew whatever she was looking for was in there. She waved her a wand again, and the drawer open right up. She opened it and searched through it. At the bottom of the drawer, she found a black box. She grabbed it and placed it on the desk, and opened it. Inside were a stack of letters tied and bound, more photos of Angelina. A photo of her dressed in her school uniform, smiling at the camera, another of her sitting on a couch reading a book. Another of lying on the same couch fast asleep, another where she was standing next to Bill smiling as he looked down at her adoringly. But the photos that shocked Fleur was the one were Angelina was passionately kissing Bill. The French woman dropped the photos as if they burned her skin. She grabbed one of the letters addressed to Bill and carefully opened it, and took the letter out of it. It read:

_Dear Bill,_

_Fred told me the funniest story which consistent of you running around the garden naked, chasing after garden gnomes. If this is true, I'm afraid that I may never see you again. Seeing is how you've never ran around naked for me. I'm dreadfully bored without you here. Fred will not stop nagging me about going out with him, and if I do not receive a letter from you soon, I think I might take him up on that offer. I don't know where you are but I hope you're somewhere safe. I hope you're missing me as much as I'm missing you._

_Love,_

_Angelina_

Fleur replaced the letter, and grabbed another. She went through every single letter each one had Angelina declaring her love to Bill. _Her_ Bill. She went though the box and found another letter, only it was address to Angelina, but the letter was halfway written and it was dated four days before her and Bill's wedding. Her hands were trembling as she opened it. It read:

_Dear Angelina,_

_I don't know were to start, the only thing that I can say is I'm sorry. I've made a mistake, when I see you with George, it angers me. I hate seeing him touch you._

Fleur stopped reading the letter; it was too painful to continue. Bill declaring his love to the witch was unbearable. She jumped up when she heard a loud bang outside. Putting the letters and photos back in the box, and placed it back into the drawer and closed it. When the door to the house opened her heart began to race. Shoving the picture she found back into the book, she scurried out of the room closing it behind her.

It was another Weasley get together, they all sat at a long table, everyone laughing and joking, except for Fleur who only smiled; a smile that didn't reach quite her eyes. Instead of listening to the conversation around her, her eyes drifted to George who was whispering in his wife's ear. Whatever it was it made her giggle. Fleur felt Bill tense up next to her. _Had he always done that?_ She turned back to looking at Angelina and George, then her eyes fell on Roxanne who was sitting next to her fiancée', Teddy. They were the main reason why everyone had gotten together that evening. It was strange everyone had always thought that he and Victoire would marry, but it seemed everyone was wrong. On Roxanne's wrist was a silver bracelet that Bill had bought her. In fact he also bought the earrings that matched with it. None of it was out of the ordinary; Bill always doted on her, like she was his own daughter. He treated her better than Victoire, who Fleur knew was his least favorite child. When Roxanne did receive the jewelry she was ecstatic, Dominique and her squealed over it for thirty minutes straight. Although George laughed at the gift and thought nothing of it, Fleur noticed the frown on Angelina's face. She wasn't happy—at all. Bill only smiled innocently at her expression.

When the dinner ended, the children went and played while some of the adults went inside to clean up. Fleur noticed Bill walking over to Angelina and whisper something in her ear. The dark-skinned girl sighed and followed him out the door. Unnoticed, Fleur followed them.

"I think she suspects something." She heard Bill say.

"What? What do you mean?" Angelina whispered hastily. "Did you say something?" Fleur moved some of the branches of the bushes around to get a better view. Angelina was standing with her arms folded her back to him. Bill was standing behind her, staring at the back of her head.

"She went into my study, and looked in to the drawer were I keep some pictures of you. Letters you wrote me."

_Some? Were there more_, Fleur thought.

"Why do you still have those?" Angelina asked, closing her eyes.

"Why do you bloody think?" Bill asked, his voice was of a mixture of pleading and desperation.

"You're with Fleur," Angelina said. "You married her—"

"I _settled_ for her," Bill said harshly. "She got pregnant. What the hell was I supposed to do! I thought me getting engaged to her you'd change your mind about Fred and come back to me. But then the war happened and Fred died. And then you just went George because you missed him."

Angelina's eyes shot opened, she turned swiftly around.

"Don't you dare! I love George. Fred and I ended before he decided to jump on his broom and fly the fuck out of Hogwarts. I fell in love with George. I love the way he holds me and kisses me—"

"Enough!" Bill shouted, his face was as red as his hair. "I don't want to hear about him touching you. I sure as hell don't want to see it!"

Bull turned away from her; he ran his fingers through his ever so long hair. Angelina sighed and reached out and placed a hand on his arm.

"I love you, Angelina. I'll love you till the day I die. And it kills me to know that you'll never love me back."

Angelina turned him around. "I do love you, William. Just not the way you want me too."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on his scar. Fleur saw him shiver in pleasure. Angelina walked away from him, leaving him standing there. The look on his face could only be described as sorrowful. After a few minutes passed and he still stood there, Fleur stepped out of the bushes and headed inside. Her mind was repeating the events over and over again. She didn't know what hurt the most Bill's love for another woman or the now new found knowledge that he settled for her. Fleur walked back into the house. Her was aching she wanted to cry but she couldn't. She was angry, hurt, and sad. Sad that her marriage and the love that she thought Bill had for her had been lie. Sad for her children. Sad even for Bill. She sat down at an empty chair next to her Audrey, who was chatting adamantly with Ginny. Fleur looked over at Angelina, who had not only claimed a spot on the couch next to George, who had his arm wrapped around her waist, but a large spot in Bill's heart where there was no room for her.


End file.
